Thursday, February 25, 2010

It's finally upon us! The North American Handmade Bicycle Show is tomorrow and one might liken my happiness to that of a little school girl. In other words I'm freakin' pumped over here! To try and avoid any crowds a friend and I are taking off from work tomorrow to head down to Richmond for the day.

Just to get you in the mood, here's a slideshow from the NAHBS 2009 Flickr pool:

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

So I'm still under the weather. Still not biking. It's been 7 weeks since I felt well.

SEVEN WEEKS...

Grasping for perspective and anything positive I've turned what little energy I have toward hobbying. I started to think about all the cool things that I wish I had the time to get into but never did. The list was long but somewhere near the top was vermiculture. No, it's not something to do with breeding rats, it's composting with worms. I have been considering this for some time and it seems like just the low energy distraction I need.

A bin of worms will eat most non-meat non-dairy kitchen scraps as well as newspaper, cardboard, egg cartons etc, turning it all into highly effective fertilizer for my veggie garden.

There are several different ways to make your own worm composting bin. Most of which can be done with things you already have lying around your house (google it). After some research on worm compost bin design I settled on a simple one bin system from seattletilth.org. There are benefits to doing a stackable system where the worms will separate themselves from the compost on their own but I thought for my first venture I'd keep it simple.

My worm bin is coming along. I have a few vents installed but I think I need a few more. Rather than spend more money on fancy louvered vents I think I'll just drill some 1" holes and glue screen to the inside of the box.

PamJ is kindly helping me out with the worms, which I will get as soon as I'm finished with the box and bedding. Hopefully they will like their new digs.

UPDATE:The 1" holes with screen worked out great with a healthy serving of super glue. I believe the bin is adequately ventilated.

Friday, February 12, 2010

I have been sick for 5 of the last six weeks. The week I wasn't sick happened to be the worst storm in DC history. I am starting to get the feeling that I'm not actually a cyclist anymore. After spending most of the week in my house... in my bathrobe, I am ready to chew the bark off a tree. With the latest round of chest congestion I am in no condition to bike, so I caught another car ride into work this morning. At lunch I walked down to my beloved Capital Crescent Trail to see how it was fairing without me.

The trail looked amazing but I don't think it missed me, and rightfully so.

Seeing the trail made me recall when as a younger man some friends and I hiked down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up in the same day. It changed my life, it was one of the best things I've ever done. After emerging from the canyon we were rabid with euphoria and searched down the first person we could find so they could bear witness to out achievement. We came upon an old weathered man and launched at him a volley descriptions and accounts of all that we had overcome. His response was as deep to me as the canyon itself.

"The canyon doesn't care..." he said.

I need to stop whining. Cabin fever doesn't make me less of a cyclist. I just need a ride. One of those holy rides that sets everything right again and delivers a much needed dose of perspective.